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GRANDPA Age ain't nothing but a number By Chakara Bennett ~ Guardian Intern: Mayaguana native Clayton Taylor always had a dream and he always knew he wanted something big out of life, but life and its responsibilities always seemed to get in the way — that is at least until he decided that he needed to do what he needed to do for himself. The young man who had to stop his early education at age 13 and seek work now holds an associate's degree in urban Christian ministries studies — 60 years after he first left his education unfinished. It took the 73-year-old, eight years to accomplish his college degree from Palm Beach Atlantic University (PBAU) which he started at the age of 65 in 2002. He graduated December, 2009, and now he's a Methodist minister. "Life is filled with too many yesterdays and too few tomorrows and I wasn't going to let my dream go to the grave with me" says Taylor. "I've wanted this for too long and let too many people talk me out of it and now, eight years since I started my tertiary education, here I am with my associate's in hand. Who says dreams can't come true — not my God and not me!" When Taylor first left school, he found work at the U.S. Missile Base near Mayaguana where he stayed there until 1953, but he says he always had a spirit that wanted more. Knowing that he would not find it in Mayaguana, he left the island and moved to New Providence, then decided to go to the United States on "The Contract." While there he enjoyed the freedom and excitement that came with traveling from farm to farm around the country, but he says something always "pecked at the back of his mind" that there was much more that he could do. He returned to New Providence in 1957 and joined the prison staff where he stayed until 1961, but that spirit in him that always wanted more urged him to leave and he sought a new adventure. Within months he said he found a niche he enjoyed in the taxi cab and tour industry, and spent the next 35 years in that sector, before he says the "nagging in the back of his mind" began to get clearer. He came to the realization that God was calling him to do more with his life, and specifically to join in His spiritual ministry. Even though Taylor came to this realization he says he did not listen to what the Lord was saying to him, and that it took him getting hurt really badly to reassess his life. "Back when I heard God's call I ignored it. Even when I realized what was happening I still 'shucked and jived' for many more years before doing what I knew was right according to God's plan for me. It took me hurting my back in 1997 during some bad weather on the boat that gave me the time to think about what I really wanted and needed to be doing and what I was doing to get it. While recovering from my injury I made the decision that I would go to school again even though I didn't know the first thing about how I was going to do it." It then took Taylor another three years after making his life-changing decision to muster up the courage to do what he wanted. He says it took not only God's guidance and his own belief to get him to make the first steps but rather the innocent words of his own family that made him take the plunge into an unknown world. "It was my grandkids who actually really pushed me to go back to school. I was still unsure of myself when I spoke with [them] about it. They were just entering high school and I looked at them and asked 'Hey, do you think I can still learn if I go back to school?' I will never forget that they both looked at me in my eye and told me that I could definitely do it because they believed in me. Up until then everyone else I had put my dream to had told me that I couldn't and I was silly for even trying, but when they said 'yes, granddaddy' I really believed it." It was in 2000 that Taylor embarked on his greatest adventure 55 years after he initially left school. When he began his journey he soon realized that before he could enter college he needed to get his GED. He didn't let the lack of that paper stop him. He went after his GED and with hard work and determination over the two years and three months that it took him to go from a fourth grade formal education level to a 12th grade level, he earned it. Taylor didn't break his momentum and applied and was accepted into PBAU, a Christian University in West Palm Beach, Florida, in the fall of 2002. He admits that preparing for the GED was a challenge, but says it did not prepare him for what university would truly be like. "The first two years or so I couldn't understand anything — I couldn't get used to the books and studying. It was so hard at first. It wasn't what I expected. It was so different from 55 years ago. [College] was not easy until around my third year when we got into strict theology concepts. Those things I was more familiar with. I remembered learning about it when I first got seriously interested in religion and ministry. It all came in handy and I really started to enjoy being in school," he stated. He said contributing to his difficulties and making studying harder for him was that he had no peers to relate to in his different classes. Where the younger students could pair off and study together he says he couldn't and believes that aided in him taking longer to understand some things. His wife who had been ill had remained in Nassau. He says if she had been in better health, he would have encouraged her to take the journey with him because she read faster than he could. And he says it would have made his journey seem less solitary than it did. At the same time he says he understands that the journey he took was God's will for him to do on his own, and forced him to see how much he truly depended on Him everyday. "I saw my kids through the best school back then, and I saw my grandkids off to a good school so I am happy that they are seeing me off now. It was not easy and they helped. The lesson, I have truly learned and the proof is in the paper" says Taylor. "I can now become a Methodist pastor and I am so happy that I have made it with God's help. I don't even have to wait to find a position as a pastor because when I finished I was approached with a job already in the United States with the Methodist church over there. I do not know where I will be yet but I will be fulfilling my dreams nonetheless." With his associate's degree in hand, Taylor says he's probably one of the happiest men alive right now, and says he's now developed a passion for learning. "I wish I could still be in the classroom because it got so good at the last stages, but in the end I would rather live out the rest of my days behind a pulpit and share what God wants me to share than be in a class. I am happy and I do wish to one day come home and preach in one of the Methodist churches. It would be an honor," he says. Because of his experiences Taylor has a strong view on education that he stands firmly behind, and says when he finally gets behind the pulpit he will do all he can to ensure that no one will be left behind. He hopes to instill belief and persistence in one's dreams among his congregation members because that he said is what got him to where he is today. Taylor wants his life to be an inspiration to young people to show those who no one believes can amount to anything that they can excel if they want to. He says even the old people who want to retire and sit at home but still have dreams he would encourage to not let circumstances hinder them from doing what they want to do. "Today is the beginning of your tomorrow. So, don't let it pass you by," he says. Thursday January 28, 2010